


Intrigue

by lechatnoir



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Community: rotg_kink, F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-09
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-14 09:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lechatnoir/pseuds/lechatnoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> prompt fill ovo! </i>
</p>
<p>Kozmotis is part of the Lunar Constellation's envoy to Punjam Hy Loo to seek help in fighting the armies of Dream Pirates, Nightmare men, and Fearlings. Or at least that is the envoy's overt goal. Covertly, Kozmotis and the other members of the envoy are to assess adding the small nation to the Lunaoff's large empire. </p>
<p>The good general is more than ready to see his duties through until he meets princess Toothiana. It is hardly the time or the place for romance but Kozmotis finds it increasingly harder to keep his emotions seperate from his duty...</p>
<p>(In which Baby Tooth is Tooth's little sister, Seraphina and Baby Tooth are attached to the bone when they meet, and politics occur)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red Robin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pretzel_logic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pretzel_logic/gifts).



i.

He remembers the sound of the sounds of his boots clicking against the tiled floors, golds and blues filtering through the palace walls and there was a sense of pride, swelling and bursting in him like the blares of the trumpets and the swish of his cloak, red and the color of a robin’s breast.

Seraphina walks with him, dressed in greens and leaves with flowers in her hair – the dress is silk and lace, something small and yet full of life and it is as if she is spring and he is winter, cold and frigid and silent as death.

He is dressed in black and gold, metal and cloth weaving together into one, an abyss and a center point of focus all in one.

She is a carefree spirit, with the wind rustling her skirts and a smile on her face, quiet and docile and yet she is strong like the willow trees, a song present on her lips.

They arrive at the main throne room and Kozmotis bends down to his little girl, curls a lock of hair around his finger and smiles, whispering into her ear 

“We’ll be going on an adventure , little one.” 

She smiles and claps her hands , for there were many wonders in the world that she would like to see and draw and lock away in her memory for the rainy days to come. 

ii.

Punjam Hy Loo is the wind and the mountains humming and creaking, stern tree roots climbing and wrapping themselves around the palace walls, a fortress of woods and old songs that only the wind seems to know, with wind chimes and birds singing along.

Tooth is silver and gold and a vibrancy of movement, never stopping to take a break from the ever present matters of her kingdom.

It is small, not very large but it is filled with enough light and life to make her heart soar with joy.

She hears the doors to the throne room creak and groan open, tall things with carvings of the tales of the Sisters of Flight and the stories of Punjam Hy Loo, the mountains and the rivers, and something like the gods themselves living in its roots. 

The sound of little wooden slippers tapping against the tile floors echoes and she can hear Baby Tooth’s laughter and she raises her head to the bossy cries of 

‘Tooth Tooth Tooth play with me!’ 

And she can only smile and nod and promise her that she will, after she looks through a few more papers 

(even though they’re quite boring) and then she’ll be hers, she promises. 

iii.

It is the sound of a war council, trumpets blaring and maps laid out on the glass table, moonbeams and stars zooming around, dream powder and manta rays lighting up and analyzing everything.

Tsar Lunar is radiant, moonbeams and a smile on his face.

There are only so many lies to twist and turn in order for this constellation to become reality 

“You have been called here because you have been chosen to protect the realm against the Nightmares, the Fearlings and the armies of Dream Pirates that have continuously raided our allies and caused multitudes of damage, some, irreparable. Your goal is to eradicate as much of the damage as possible, in the most quickest and orderly fashion as possible.” 

iv.

Punjam Hy Loo is a battleground of Fearlings and Dream Pirates, but Tooth tells her little Baby Tooth of a sister to hide out in the closet, back in the farthest corner of their shared room.

(After their parents passed away, Tooth and Baby Tooth had taken to sleeping in the same bed, a small dagger always in Baby Tooth’s hand and twin swords in Tooth’s, just in case the Nightmare men and Fearlings crept into their safe haven, into their little realm of safety and dreams. )

“But I want to stay with you, sis! I can fight! You’ve been teaching me! “

“No darling, you stay here. I’ll whistle when the coast’s clear, alright? “

She clings to her older sister’s neck and scampers off to the wooden warm of the closet, the scent of her mother’s old perfume soaking through the air, calming and soothing.

The clash of metal and color and the screams of something dying echoes through the night air.


	2. Old Mulberry Hymns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, there are old wooden doors that keep secrets, and the screams of those who try to harm others filling the night.
> 
> There is also a meeting, and a pair of blushing doves.

i.

_Think of old bones rattling and metal singing, little bird._

_Think of old fires dancing and the stories that were painted on the walls, old hymns of old lovers, little wreaths of flowers and blood that dripped down down down._

_That colored the ocean._

_Think of that._

She remembers the tales, remembers the names of the Sisters of Flight that danced around her, old hymns that her mother would teach her .

One for every sword,

One for every swing.

One for every slain enemy.

There were things that went bump in the night, the Nightmares and Fearlings that prowled the realms, attacking and devouring and destroying.

(And no one to stop them, and they rose high and higher, and the moon shimmered and glowed, and then it was the pitch darkness, a cold blackness that swallowed everything up whole. 

Everything everything everything – the colors became washed away, black sand hissing against the tiles but there were far too many, far too many for a little bird with no wings and claws to bite at and fight against) 

ii.

She had heard the screams before they had happened – rather, no - there was a certain shift in the night air, seconds before she had turned to Baby Tooth and told her to hide in the closet, that she’ll be back as soon as she can, and that in any case, her dagger would always be with her. 

The shift was subtle – the Nightmares and Fearlings weren’t beings that enjoyed being blatantly obvious – they enjoyed the subtle poison of dread that curled into you while they swarmed around you slowly – the brush of the wind against your face, the scratches that clawed among the stone walls.

They would drag it out, slowly but surely.

And yet there was a present chill in her bones, when she had drawn her swords and stepped out of the room, locked the doors behind her with a solemn ‘click’ and made her way to the center of the palace – where the moon beamed down at her and the shadows swarmed around her.

iii.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

_I’ve come to take the Mulberry tree._

There is a crack in the air and a rope lashes out from the shadows – black sand filled with corrupted dreams as the Dream Pirates laugh and circle around her – but she doesn’t fight, doesn’t let them think she’s any better than them.

_Let them think I’m weak._

_Let them think I am a little bird with no claws or teeth to tear through their throats._

She lets their laughter ring through her, old croaks filled with gold teeth and nothing but rotting dust on their skin.

She closes her eyes and smiles, before watching the moon beams dance off the silver of her swords, and she goes – lunges forward and spins, and there’s a laughter that bubbles through her throat, old familiar steps that she pays no attention to and it flows through her, the instinct to kill and protect, for she has a kingdom to serve and it is not this night that the Dream Pirates will take her down. 

Their laughter turns into screams and she smiles to herself, blood dripping from her swords as she hums to herself and wipes them clean, putting them away and going back to her little sister.

iv. 

The wooden doors do little to block the sounds of what goes on beyond them, but they give Baby Tooth some sort of shelter from the crossfire, so perhaps, for that she can be thankful for them.

She clutches the dagger that Tooth had given her, tracing over the gold plated patterns and swirls and it is something that keeps her grounded, keeps her occupied while a little storm of hell raged outside and she knows her sister was the one who kept the monsters at bay.

(She always did protect you, always . ) 

The screams soon become old jittery background noise, but soon enough she hears the silence that seeps into her little niche of safety and she freezes up.

(No. Sis would never lose to these – these jerks! She’d never ever lose, she’s the best that there is !) 

She’d repeat, slowly and surely until it was a mantra that was stuck in her head, on a loop that no one would be able to interfere with.

She hears footsteps and while they sounded familiar - _aren’t all footsteps familiar?_ \- and _no_ she doesn’t _tremble_ of course not! 

She takes a breath and braces herself, dagger slowly unsheathing from its case and she waits, fight or flight coursing through her mind and she tells herself to calm down, slowly but surely.

She feels the doors open, and looks up to see her sister’s face, smiling and tired and blood soaked, but that doesn’t stop the dagger from clattering onto the tiled floor and Baby Tooth launching herself at Tooth, wrapping her arms around her older sister’s neck as she had crouched down in front of the closet and they had ended up in a heap on the floor with silly laughter bubbling through their lips. 

v.

The next day, the blood was cleaned from their walls and floors, and the palace was buzzing with energy, and yet, everything was eerily quiet.

It was around noon time that Tooth had received the letter – all gold and embroidered, with quite the official looking stamp on it.

Baby Tooth’s eyes had widened as if they were large saucers and Tooth couldn’t help but laugh at how comical her little sister looked. 

Of course, that didn’t mean that Baby Tooth didn’t retaliate by throwing a piece of fruit at her older sister, and had ran away from the table , squealing with laughter as Tooth proceeded to growl and chase her around Punjam Hy Loo.

It was refreshing, to hear the sound of laughter ringing in the walls of their home, no matter how lonely she felt at times. 

She had opened the letter and there was something like dread slowly coiling inside of her, but yet, she couldn’t place her finger on it, and chalked it up to the paranoia she had felt since last night.

The attacks had been more frequent, and quite frankly, the Dream Pirates and Nightmares and Fearlings were growing quite bold.

Far too bold. 

It was one thing, if they had an established army, if there were more Sisters of Flight.

But they weren’t seen, haven’t been seen, in quite some time. 

Still, with trembling hands she had looked to the dove that had blushed when she had stroked its plumage gently, a smile on her face as she sat down once more at the table, took out a scroll and a pen, and wrote her reply. 

It was short, to the point, and yet, courteous. 

Or, as courteous as she could get with blood beneath her fingernails and a lack of sleep that has dogged her for quite some time. 

_I will be awaiting your arrival in two days time, Tsar Lunaoff._

_It is an honor, and I hope, that this event will help end the Nightmare threat once and for all._

Little did she know, that her dread was rightfully placed, albeit, she would only realize this far too late in their little game of cat and mouse.

Or so, Tsar Lunaoff had thought, when he had penned the letter and attached it to the dove that soared through the skies as if there was a dragon chasing it, fire burning its tail feathers as it raced to get it delivered. 

vi.

“General Kozmotis Pitchiner, you will be sent to Punjam Hy Loo , in two days time, to eradicate the festering plague of Dream Pirates , Nightmares, and Fearlings. You will be sent as part of an envoy of the Lunar Constellation, and I will, of course, accompany you for diplomatic reasons, hearings, what have you.” 

Tsar Lunaoff’s voice had wavered and weaved itself through the hall, palace abuzz with soldiers as he watched from his throne, watched the brave General bow his head and watched his little daughter curtsey as well, and he thinks, that this little plan, this _expedition_ will go well.

If he plays his pieces correctly.

If the little dove doesn’t turn into a wolf and tear his head off, first. 

He smiles and gives one command : _Move out!_


End file.
